Day 8, windchill minus 50 tonight

Yesterday and today have been rough days. The temperature has dropped significantly (another 10 degrees) because of brutal winds. Getting dressed today was an even longer process than usual. I added another layer just to be ont he safe side. The problem was that we had to hike quite a bit to get into the forest which causes you to sweat which then freezes. Yesterday we went out for the day to the Twin Lakes site to collect still more snow samples and branches. I learned that frozen sandwiches really aren't that bad. It just takes a little longer to eat them. The branches, really only two inches of the end of the branches, are being collected for Dr. Kershaw's grad student, Steve, who is writing his Ph.D. on wind abrasion on spruce needles and the impact of climate change on the arctic tree line (can't make this stuff up). For each tree we need nine little cuttings (Three from the eastern side, three from the north-western side and three from the southern side, taken from different heights) to measure the impact of wind and sun. As you can tell from the tree picture, they are rather oddly shaped, with most of the branches growing from one side because of the wind.

Going out in the snow mobile box (locally know as the qamatuk) is getting pretty tough and some of our Earthwatch people are starting to show signs of exhaustion. One member of the group suffered some frostbite on the tip of her nose. It is not sure if we will be able to go out at all tomorrow because of the weather. It also appears that Calm Air, which is supposed to take us out of here on Wednesday, might not be flying tomorrow and if they are, the road that takes us to the airport might be closed to snowdrifts. This could get exciting.
I am booked for the igloo for tonight, but do I really need to do this? I certainly am having my doubts about the wisdom of doing this.
I have included a picture of a ptarmigan, apparently a grouse family bird, for Mr. Moore. I am sticking to my story that they have a chicken-like walk and size. Like most of the animals around here they are hard to spot and tend to stay away from people. We saw them only once for a few minutes. You also have to remember that you have to bury your camera pretty deep in your layers of clothing to make sure that it doesn't freeze, so taking a picture takes quite a bit of time. By the time you take off your mittens, dig out the camera and get ready to take the photo it is too late. We did not manage to photograph the arctic fox.